UKH

Cairngorm Funicular Walks Approved

© Dan Bailey
Dan Bailey UKH

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Highland Council last week gave the green light to a scheme that allows walkers to access the summit of Cairn Gorm from the top station of the funicular.

Cairn Gorm's summit - now accessible by train. Well almost. © Dan Bailey
Cairn Gorm's summit - now accessible by train. Well almost.
© Dan Bailey

Since opening in 2001 the Cairngorm funicular railway has operated as a 'closed' system, with a ban on public access from the top station onto the mountain in order to protect the fragile habitat from what some feared would be hordes of walkers. The system was a condition of the original planning consent for the development.

However the position softened over time, and guided walks from the funicular were run as a trial from 2010, branded Walk@TheTop.

CairnGorm Mountain Ltd, the company that manages the funicular and ski resort on behalf of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, then sought permission to continue the scheme on a permanent basis.

The decision to let this happen came on 15 May after Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) advised that there would be no adverse environmental effects. This assessment was made following three years of work to evaluate the potential impact of the scheme on the adjacent Cairngorms Special Protection Area (SPA), Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and National Scenic Area (NSA) – some of the largest European conservation sites in Britain.

SNH officers monitored two seasons of summer trials and organised a six-week consultation in late 2011 that included members of the public, local community organisations, Non-Governmental Organisations and a Public Agency. A total of 2174 walkers attended the 353 walks that took place during the trial periods, and everyone complied with the rule that they must return to the Top Station with the Ranger.

Under the new permanent Walk@TheTop walkers will be able to follow a circular route between the funicular Top Station and the summit of Cairn Gorm. Walks will be led by a Ranger and make use of the existing Summit and Marquiss Well paths. Walkers must still return to the Top Station with their guide. It's an odd arrangement in a country that allows unfettered public access to all open land - but it seems to be working for now.

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Comments

Duncan I
20 May, 2013
At the end of this report you make the comment that it is "an odd arrangement" given Scotland's access laws. Thinking back to the amount of resistance to this project that was generated throughout the 90s, it was a hard-wrought concession that the imposition of the funicular would not lead to an influx of people onto the summit plateau with the commensurate environmental impact. The cynic may see SNH as complicit in the commercial agenda of the funicular company as it would be a whole new market of user if one could could get out at the summit and walk back down. Yes, in Scotland there is unfettered access rights to the high mountains, but it needs to be remembered that there are responsibilities. And let's be clear, no one is stopping you from walking up Cairngorm - it is an agreement between many stakeholders and participants with environmental sensitivty as its main driver that is stopping folk from taking an expensive, visually intrusive and deceivingly convenient option. I wonder if, given the current economic climate, the project would have received the same Scottish government funding that it did 15 years ago, and whether this is an agenda on the part of HIE to maximise a return on their multi-million pound bale-out of the funicular. Some recent info here: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/newsandmediacentre/17364.aspx
Sean Kelly
24 May, 2013
So can we expect the same in Wales as people access the summit from the train?
Gerald Davison
18 Jun, 2013
I'm all in favour of protecting the plateau from train loads of tourists, but if memory serves me right there was no such restriction on the chairlift which the funicular replaced. Summer tourists (and walkers) could (and did) leave the top station of the Chairlift. Or am I mistaken? Maybe a "different" type of person would ride the train instead of the chair lift. It's all rather long while ago now so my memory may be playing tricks. Gerald
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